It all started one Sunday afternoon. I went to see my boyfriend at his house. Wewere sitting in the living room watching TV when he asked me to get him somethingto drink.

As I walked into the kitchen, I saw the clock. I figured it wasgetting late, so I grabbed my coat and asked him if he could take me home becauseI didn't want rumors and thoughts to go through my family's mind.

Heagreed, but he wasn't too happy that I wanted to leave because of my family. So Itold him that he had to understand because I always spent time with him and notwith my family. He took it the wrong way and started to say that I didn't want tobe with him. All I did was turn around and try to walk away. Suddenly, all I feltwas his arm on the back of my head. And all I heard was a slap. I tried to askwhy he did that, but he was hysterical. I tried to calm him, but I couldn't. Hewas screaming and his face was red because of the anger. I thought he was goingcrazy. I didn't understand what was wrong with him. The only thing I could thinkof doing was slapping him, so I did it and said "Snap out of it!" Hetook a deep breath and all I remember was getting up from the floor. I didn'tunderstand and I didn't want to. All I wanted was to get back home. And that'swhat I did.

I thought I did something wrong. And day after day I tried tofigure out what was that I did wrong but I couldn't think of a reason thatexplained it. I stayed with him even though he had slapped me. And every fight orargument we had became more severe. I couldn't face the fact that whether or notI wanted to be with him, I had to leave him. It hurt so much that the person Ireally cared for did this to me. Yet I had to learn that if I loved myself, I hadto leave him for my safety.

So I did. Slowly I began to drift away andbegan to spend more time with his friend. Until one day I stopped receiving hisphone calls and denied myself when he came. He then began stalking me and sendingme love letters. Shortly after this my family and I moved, though my family didnot know. It was just a coincidence. Now he doesn't know where I am and I live mylife thinking of when he is going to find me. Though I heard he went on with hislife, I still think he's looking for me. But ... I left him and now I live mylife trying to think about the positive aspects of my life.

Can youimagine having to live a life like that? And did you know that every 11 seconds ayoung woman is beaten by a man? Why do these things happen? Is it because offrustration, anger, drinking, drug abuse, stress from the job, or personalproblems? What do you think? I think the only people that know are the meant thatdo it. How come these men don't get reported? And how come these men only stopwhen they get arrested or kill the women? I tried answering that question, butfor me it's hard to think of the answer and it's hard to think of the reason whythey do it in the first place.

Many people ask themselves, "Why dothese women stay with these men?" There could be many reasons why womenclaim they should be with these men but none of them meet the standard to say,"Here's my reason, so there." Some young women just won't admit that itcould be because they lack self-esteem or just because they're scared, as I was. Somewomen would say that because they have kids, they love their mate or because theyoung women insist that it's their fault and they will eventually change. THAT'SNOT TRUE! It's not your fault no matter what you do and they will not changeunless you really, really seek some professional help.

Not only youngwomen get battered, older women get battered as well. It can be easy to say"Report him, leave him or get help." But not everyone realizes thatthese things are more easily said than done. It's time that all of us unite andhelp end the domestic violence before the domestic violence ends with someone youknow. If you know anybody who is going through this, help them when they needyou, not only physically but also mentally. Don't put them down when they're notat fault. And don't let anyone you know ask themselves "Why me?" theway I did. c